16-year-old Noida boy Yash Bhatkar said he did not take any tuitions and credited group study sessions with friends and the help of his school teachers for his remarkable performance

A 16-year-old Noida boy, Yash Bhatkar, has slayed the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) this year by scoring a perfect 800/800 in mathematics and 790/800 in Physics. Bhatkar took the test on January 23.

But that’s not all. He claims to have done this without taking any extra tuitions after school hours.

His aggregate of 1590/1600 was the same as scored as 16-year-old Lucknow whiz kid Shubh Agrawal.

“I have never attended any private tuition all my life and I don’t wish to do it even in future,” an excited Yash told HT over phone.

Bhatkar believes understanding a concept in any subject or stream is much more important than merely memorising it.

“For me, it is important to understand a concept. Just mugging up doesn’t help you all the time. However, if you delve into the depths of the concept and develop a deep understanding of it, it will always help you,” said Bhatkar when asked for a word of advice to students across India and across the world who will appear for SAT, 2017.

So, how exactly did he manage to clear all doubts while preparing for mathematics? He credited his group study sessions with friends Joshua and Kanishka for his command over mathematics. Studying in 11th standard of Alliance World School, Yash also got help from his teachers by connecting with them on Skype.

“Our school allow us to stay on after the classes get over. So, after school, me and my friends used to sit together and do brainstorming during these group study sessions. We discussed our doubts and queries and also requested the teachers to help us solve problems that we couldn’t on our own.I am grateful that they were always available on Skype to help us out,” Yash said.

The maths prodigy believes that stress could adversely affect the calibre of students and one should always be calm and composed on the night before any exam.

“I barely study before my exams. Stress is that negativity which will pull you down. Whenever I feel stressed, I play tennis with my friends,” Yash said.

Born to software engineer and entrepreneur Tushaar Bhatkar and homemaker Sarika Bhatkar, Yash wants to pursue higher studies in one of the eight ‘Ivy League’ institutes.

“I wish to take up economics and mathematics at either Stanford or Yale. It is too early to say whether I wish to work in India but I will definitely give it a thought,” Yash said.

His parents said they were determined not to put any pressure on him.

“We are extremely happy with his performance. However, he is free to make his own career choices. We won’t pressure him in any way,” said Sarika, his mother.